A Tale of Two Angels
by FandomsAreLoveFandomsAreLife
Summary: In a tale as old as time, two angels find love just when they need it most. But the Fates are cruel and heartless. In the end, they both would have been much better off if their destinies had never intertwined in the first place. [Solangelo] [Angel AU]
1. Prologue - Cheerful Green and Deep Blue

_**VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE BOTTOM**_

* * *

Sit down everyone, for I have come to tell you a story.

What would you say, if I told you that angels exist in our world? They are invisible, of course. Concealed by the Mist. But they exist, yes.

Angels come in many forms, but the two most prominent types are Dark and Light. All angels are either one or the other, even if only slightly. Some of us think of Light and Dark as Good and Evil. But, my friend, I'm afraid that life is not all black and white. Light and Dark are simply two different areas of power. But that is a story for another day.

Our tale starts centuries ago. I was not there myself, of course, and neither were you, most likely.

* * *

 _The goddess Aphrodite looked at the mortal couple with interest. They were walking along a beach, at sunset. The beach looked like it had not had to bear the footprint of man in several millennia. The sand was pale gold, contrasting against the turquoise waves. The sky was pink, streaked with orange and grey clouds. Aphrodite sighed, this was_ so _romantic. She knew it was a good idea to have Eros strike them._

 _She giggled as the girl tripped on a rock, and her date caught her. They stood for a moment, gazing into each other's eyes, cheerful green meeting deep blue. Aphrodite squealed and twirled in a circle like a little girl._

 _The boy reached up and touched the girl's face, tucking a strand of soft brown hair behind her ear. She leaned forward, causing their lips to touch slightly. He kissed back, and tentatively put his hands on her hips. The girl did not object to this, but instead wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her hands in his black curls._

 _Aphrodite probably would've fainted if not for the giant booming sound that happened next._

 _A golden arrow the size of a fully-grown man shot out of the heavens, killing the teenage couple instantly. Aphrodite ran over, but their delicate mortal bodies were already crumbling to ash. "APOLLO!" She shrieked._

 _A scowling sun god swooped down from the sky on golden wings. He was the same size as a normal man, so Aphrodite couldn't figure out how he shot an arrow that size. Nor did she care._

 _"You know why I did it." Apollo grumbled. He was right, Aphrodite knew exactly why. Love goddess senses can be handy._

 _"Just because you're trying to woo every female (and some males) in Chaos's realm doesn't give you the right to kill the girl and her boyfriend!" She yelled. Who does he think he is? Only Aphrodite has the right to tragically break adorable couples apart!_

 _"I asked you to send the girl to the beach so that I could romantically ask her on a date. Not so that she she could fall in love with_ someone else _!" Apollo said through gritted teeth. That girl had been the most beautiful he had seen that day! Who does Aphrodite think she is, having her fall in love with someone who won't break her heart?_

 _"Bah! I don't have time for this! I have my daily mani-pedi coming up soon!" And with that, Aphrodite stormed off, leaving an equally angry Apollo behind her._

{The Next Day}

 _Aphrodite stormed into the throne room, causing all the inhabitants to immediately give her their attention. In case you haven't noticed, Aphrodite is very good at that. "I have something to tell you all." She announced. "From now on, all mortals and demigods are under my blessing." She paused for dramatic effect, and let all the gods look at each other in confusion before continuing. "No immortal may hurt or kill any mortal or demigod purely because of who they love, except for myself of course. Got it?"_

 _Everyone found themselves nodding. No one completely agreed, but remembering what happened to Selene and Apollo, they had to agree._

 _Aphrodite had left angels out of the blessing for a very specific reason. Although no one else knew, she had cursed Apollo in the worst way she could think of. And Aphrodite was very excited to see how it would play out._

* * *

That short story is the complete reason that this, much longer, story is happening. The story then starts off again hundreds of years later, during modern times, when Aphrodite has almost forgotten about the curse. But the Fates certainly haven't, and neither have we. Though I feel like I should introduce you to our two main characters first, eh?

* * *

Apollo grinned down at the little cherub in his arms. His son's wings were plain white, but Apollo knew that all cherub's wings start out like that. They would soon change colour, most likely to yellow or blue or another bright colour. He is as much as a child of Light as one could get, given the fact that his father is the King of Light.

William's big blue eyes stared at him curiously, as if he was counting all the freckles on his Apollo's face. His curls were golden blond, exactly like his father's. If Apollo had ever been a baby - instead of growing up immediately - this is what he would have looked like, minus the wings.

A tanned, chubby little baby fist reached out of the bundle of yellow blankets and forcefully grabbed Apollo's finger. No one else noticed, but the tingling feeling told Apollo that this little cherub would become a talented healer. His suspicions were confirmed when he look at his finger and, sure enough, the paper cut that he had gotten the other day was completely gone.

William giggled, and attempted to catch another finger. Apollo had a feeling that this would go on for a long time, so he gently set the bundle back into Naomi's arms, giving her a reassuring smile.

Naomi was... beautiful. She had long, curly blonde hair and bright, leaf-green eyes that seemed to twinkle with laughter even in the most intense moments. Her smile always made everyone want to laugh along with her. She looked like a fairy, basically. Tie her hair up in a bun and put her in a dress made of leaves, and she would be a dead-ringer for Tinkerbell.

Apollo had found her on the side of the road with tattered clothes and a dirty guitar. She had been starved and half-dead from exhaustion, but still hottest girl Apollo had seen that week.

He had found her a house and a job, even offering to buy her a new acoustic guitar (she turned him down politely, though) all as long has she would sing for him, and she did. Her voice was so angelic, Apollo found it difficult to believe she wasn't actually an angel.

Apollo visited Naomi from time to time, and those visits started getting... interesting. Eventually Naomi told him she was pregnant, and that he was the father. Now, nine months later, he was looking at his son.

...

"I christen you William Day Solace, angel of Healing, son of Apollo and Naomi Solace."

* * *

Hades stared down at the cherub in Maria's arms. He had olive skin and dark brown eyes, like his mother. That, Hades could appreciate, but unlike his sister, Nico had Hades' feathery black hair. He was dressed in only a black diaper, so Hades could see that his son's wings were, as usual, pure white.

Nico stared right back at Hades, as if challenging him. His little angel wings flapped weakly, though it was strange for an angel to try and take off at such a young age. Nico wasn't even strong enough to lift his head yet, nevermind _fly_.

Nico's dark eyes looked surprisingly... serious, for his age. Hades was reminded of the angels of Despair, and how they always looked like they were bearing the burdens of the sky upon their shoulders. Nico had the same sadness, but angels of Despair had to experience some sort of loss before they join the sphere of Despair. Hopefully, Nico would never have to experience that sort of grief.

How very, very wrong Hades was.

...

A high-pitched laugh filled the air of a small cottage in Venice. Six month old Nico was bobbing half a metre off the ground on grey wings. He did an accidental somersault in the air and tumbled back to the ground, still laughing. Bianca was showing him how to flap his wings in a way that meant he wouldn't fall flat on his face again, while Maria sat off to the side, watching in amusement.

Suddenly, Hades stepped out of the shadows, quietly enough as to not startle the children, but fast enough to make Maria jump. "Hades, _mio amore_ , what brings you here?"

Hades started wringing his hand nervously. "It's about the children." Maria's expression changed to worry.

"What about them, _tesoro_? Are they in danger?"

"It's Zeus, I don't know what's come over him! He started demanding that none of the Big Three have any more kids, stating that they were, quote unquote, 'Too powerful.'"

"But you already have Nico and Bianca, surely-"

"No! He's saying that we need to round them all up, and give them to him!"

"But doesn't he himself have children?" Hades shook his head sadly.

"Yes, my dear. But I'm afraid I don't think that it's the children of the Big Three that's the problem. It's me."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I asked Poseidon what he thought about it, and he told me he knows nothing of it."

"So he just doesn't trust your children."

"Exactly. So, I know a place in the Underworld where we can hide you and the children, at least until Zeus gets over his madness."

"But what about Persephone, _mio amore_? What will she think?"

"I'll keep you hidden from her."

"Very well, _tesoro_. But first, let me get my bag. I shall see you in a moment." Maria kissed her lover's cheek and started walking towards her bedroom. But, as she passed one of the small windows, a sudden bolt of pure electricity struck Maria, and she fell to the ground, her heart failing immediately.

Nico and Bianca stopped laughing, looking confused. Bianca tottered unsteadily over to her mother, with Nico crawling slowly behind her, propelled by his wings. Together they started shaking Maria's shoulder, try to wake her up, repeating a constant chant of "Mama. Mama. _Mama_. Mama!"

All while this was happening, Hades sat in silence. He was overwhelmed by shock, sadness and anger. He could almost see Zeus's smug face, his booming words: _THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DEFY ME._ The Lord of the Dead couldn't believe the lengths his brother would go to to prove a point. He... actually... killed Maria.

Bianca had burst into tears, hugging her brother, who was also crying. She sputter out one last "Mama." weakly, then just gave in to hysterical sobs. Seeing two little cherubs suffering the consequences of a crime they didn't commit, Hades could feel the anger building up in him. He summoned Alex.

"Take them to the Underworld," He growled at the Fury. "Keep them fed and hidden from Persephone until I return." Hades didn't want a two year old and a six month old witnessing the psychotic outbreak of their father. Alex nodded.

Once the children were gone, Hades let out a furious scream, and the entire cottage was destroyed by shadows.

...

"I christen you Nico di Angelo, angel of Despair, son of Hades and Maria di Angelo."

* * *

 **Some important facts about angels:**

 **1\. I know almost nothing about actual, religious/mythological angels, as these are angels I have come up with myself, and might be very different to whatever angels you are familiar with.**

 **2\. Baby angels are called cherubs.**

 **3\. Angels are ranked in the slot between 'Minor Deities' and 'Demigods'.**

 **4\. If a god has a child with a mortal, there is a 25% chance it will be an angel. If a god had a child with an angel, there is a 75% chance it will be an angel.**

 **5\. Angels are not immortal, although they are very hard to kill. Their weak spot is their wings, as they are vital organs to angels. If an angel gets mortally wounded in their wing, they will die.**

 **6\. The average lifespan of an angel is 300 years.**

 **7\. As with demigods, Celestial bronze is deadly to angels.**

 **8\. Angels have a brother race, spirits, who share traits with angels.**

* * *

 **[Actual Author's Note]**

 **Okay, so I was on WordHippo and I searched 'What's another word for wings.' and it just gave me a sh*t ton of synonyms for cocaine, so I'm stuck with using the word 'wings' because I'm poetic that way. Anyway! I have high hopes for this story, as I've been planning it for a while. I'm writing from Third Person perspective, which is a style I haven't used before and want to try out. And as you can see, I'm a huge fan of parallels. Get used to that if you want to read the story. 'Til next time! :)**

 **~FALFAL**


	2. Chapter 1 - Liquid Silver and Rose Gold

Here we are again. This time, however, we are in the present day. Our two heroes have grown up, each with their own tragedies and their own problems. Angels have important roles in this world, doing jobs that you have no idea they are doing. Nothing on Earth happens without someone working for it, and that is something you must learn.

But for now, I think we should visit the day, or should I say evening, that everything _really_ starts happening. So lets go take a visit to the seaside.

* * *

A small, beautiful white bird perched on the branch of a cherry blossom tree, watching a boy sit on the edge of a cliff. It wasn't just any boy, he had a large golden wing spread out from either shoulder. His shaggy hair, almost the colour of his wings, covered his face as he bowed his head slightly to see the last rays of sunlight. The little bird twittered quietly, observing how the setting sun made the angel's wings turn rose gold. It looked especially nice, as the delicate pink petals fluttered gently down around him.

The snowy bird blinked her beady black eyes, confused as to why the boy didn't seem to be enjoying this gorgeous moment. Surely everyone appreciated sunsets?

But then she recalled a moment in the throne room, when Apollo seemed to be arguing with Hades. He seemed to be ranting about a woman... Nancy, was it? She must have died recently, and Apollo was _not_ happy with that. Perhaps he had been romantically interested in her. Hades had just kept explaining that he couldn't bring her back to life, and "Remember the last time I brought a mortal back to life?"

The boy angel was fifty years old in human years. To a mere mortal, that would be quite old, but in angel years, that was only about fifteen. Maybe the boy's mother had died. The young angel could only be a child of the King of Light himself, what with those wings.

Wait a moment, what about that line from the prophecy? It had talked about someone losing their mother! And... _oh my_. The bird cooed loudly in realization. The curse, the prophecy, it was all tied together! How could she have not realized?

The little bird wanted to speed things up a bit. She needed to tell someone, to get things moving. Oh, this was going to be so exciting! She had been longing for a forbidden love story like this for years, decades! And, finally, revenge.

With that, the ivory bird leapt off the branch, spreading her wings. This startled the a golden-winged angel, but she barely noticed. She had to get to Olympus! Beating her wings harder than she ever had before, the dove spiraled into the coral pink and sapphire sky, leaving behind only a pure white feather.

And we both know which goddess is the dove.

* * *

 _A boy and a girl walk down a dark, damp alleyway. She girl shivers, looking around, paranoid. There were plenty of shadows for gods know what to jump out of and attack them. It wasn't like angels got targeted by monsters the same way half-bloods were, so she doesn't know where the fear was coming from. The monsters know better than to attack angels._

 _The boy puts his hand on the girl's shoulder. He is just as scared as she is, but he wants to reassure her. He can tell she's nervous by the way that she tucks her dark violet wings tightly against her back. The girl can sense death just as well as he can._

 _And this place reeks of death._

 _They walk closely together, their shoulders touching. Neither of them wanted to be there, but they have to deliver a message for their father. The boy has to prove that he was trustworthy enough to work for his father, and his sister wants to make sure he would be okay. Nike could be quite touchy sometimes._

 _The girl freezes, and carefully indicates her head towards one of the shadows. The boy looks around slowly, and sees a pair of glowing emerald eyes peering at them. He couldn't understand why he could only see eyes, until it stepped out of the shadows._

 _It's a giant humanoid cat, standing on its hind legs, with sleek black fur. It walks over slowly, examining them. They drew even closer together, almost back-to-back now._

 _"Leave us." The girl commands, sounding firm but for the crack in her voice at the end. The cat smiles toothily at them, then there is a flash of silver and the boy has four deep slices in his left bicep._

 _As he falls to the ground in pain, the girl stands protectively in front of him. She narrows her eyes at the feline, who is now inspecting its bloody claws, and slowly pulls her glittering silver bow off her shoulder, careful not to startle the cat. Even slower, her hand moves to her quiver and she takes out a pure white arrow._

 _The cat looks up, and sees the girl pointing an arrow at it. It readies its claws, and they begin circling each other. The girl has her arrow pointing at the feline's chest, and the cat has eight razor-sharp claws to turn the girl into ribbons._

 _Getting impatient, the cat leaps at the girl, but at the same time, she releases her arrow. It hits the cat directly in the heart, but not before it had slashed her fatally in the face and chest. The boy, hearing her scream of agony, looks up._

 _The cat has turned into black sand, soon scattered by the wind. But the girl is lying on her side, the pool of silver around her staining her white coat, and splashing her dark violet wings. Ichora, the blood of the angels. There is no way she can survive this._

 _The boy crawls frantically over to her, holding in tears of panic. He grabs her shoulder, begging her to wake up. Her eyelids flutter and her wings twitch, but nothing else happens. He puts a pale hand to her olive-skinned cheek, and she dissolves into shadow, leaving nothing but darkness and a heartbroken brother behind._

 _That was the last time Nico had ever seen Bianca._

* * *

Nico opened his eyes slowly. He had been having this dream for months now, every night since. Sometimes he wondered if his subconscious gave him that dream on purpose, just so he could see Bianca again. But that would be pointless. Just because he remembered her doesn't mean she was still alive.

No one knows what happens to an angel when it dies. The gods were extremely secretive about it, especially Hades. Some thought that there was a special paradise, like Elysium, for angels. Others theorized that their essence was scattered to the cosmos, like what happened to the gods.

Nico reluctantly got out of his bed, and pulled on a black t-shirt and skinny jeans. He really appreciated the new mortal fashion. It helped him blend in, while also being able to wear all black. He didn't care if children of Aphrodite told him that he was 'emo'.

An hour and a half later, Nico was sitting on top of a school building, watching the teenagers pour out. Most of them were in groups, some were clutching lunch boxes, and all were wearing a royal blue school uniform. He was on a small European island, Ireland, was it? That didn't matter, though. He was just here to find a certain student, whose name was Sarah Graham.

He spotted her, walking alone, folding her shoulders in on herself, like she wanted to disappear. She had her dark brown hair tied back in a low ponytail, but there were so many wisps escaping that it was like a halo around her head.

He flew down next to her. Just putting his hand on her shoulder told him all he needed to know. Her mother had gotten into a car accident on the way to pick her up from school, and was in a coma. Sarah felt like it was all her fault. This was going to be easy.

Nico spread his ebony wings, and his shadow fell on the girl. She seemed to cave in on herself, crying quietly, though everyone could see. They sent her sympathetic looks.

 _She was on her way to pick you up,_ He told her, _It's all your fault._

Having this kind of job wasn't fun, but he had to. He got used to it after a while. He just had to try not to compare his own life with the "clients". He considered them more as victims, but he learned that, if despair didn't exist, then the entire world would go to shit.

* * *

Will walked down the squeaky-clean hallways of Tallaght Hospital, Dublin. No one knew he was there, but he preferred it that way. If anyone could see him, they would be freaking out over the fact that he had giant golden wings on his back.

He strolled into one of the rooms, and saw his patient, Maxine Graham. She seemed to be in her late thirties, and married judging by the ring on her left hand. Her short mahogany hair peeked out from under the gauze wrapped around her head, stained ruby. Her entire, pale body was lying still, not a twitch but for the machines forcing her to breathe. She had been in a car accident, and was now in a coma that she would probably not wake from. He was here to see if there was anything that could be done.

He couldn't heal _anything_ , no one could. If it was certain that someone was going to die, well then, you better say goodbye. But if there was a chance they could survive, hooray! If an angel of Healing can get there in time, they'll probably survive!

Will was hoping he was on time. If their condition was left untreated for too long, it might become untreatable. Mortal doctors were a huge help for when angels couldn't be there, but mortals couldn't work miracles like those in the sphere of Healing could.

He walked over to her bedside, and place a hand on her forehead. He could sense injuries, both internal and external, and a whole lot of head trauma. Head trauma was a very bad sign. It could mean that healing her would take more energy, or even that treating her fully would be impossible.

Will stepped backwards, and held out his hands in front of him. Ribbons of light snaked from his palms, and crept over to Maxine. They wrapped themselves around her, like a shroud, and underneath he could feel them healing her. Her skin knitted itself back together, broken bones went back into place, and most importantly, the swelling in her brain went down.

He collapsed onto his knees, exhausted. Much like half-bloods, angels got extremely tired when they used their powers too much. Maxine had been very battered, and it took a lot to fix her, especially since it involved the brain, the most complex organ to fix.

Will once again went over to the woman, and placed his hand on her forehead. She was so much healthier, it almost surprised him. She must be a hard fighter, because she had improved much more than Will had anticipated. She was probably going to wake up in about two days.

At this point, the mortal nurses had noticed, and had come over to check on Maxine. He could see the shock on all of their faces, and one of them went to contact their relatives to tell them the good news. This was nice to watch, but Will just wanted to go home and go to sleep.

* * *

 **Aaaaand it's done! I'm so sorry I took so long to update, hopefully I won't put it off for that long again. I am so excited to update this story! I would really, really love it if you guys reviewed, that's always the best part of publishing a story. I probably would have updated earlier, but I'm determined to make every chapter at least over 2,000 words. It took me about three hours, but I decided, fuck it, I'm updating this story TODAY! So here you go!**

 **~FALFAL**


	3. Chapter 2 - Pale Yellow and Dull Grey

**Mild spoilers for _Les Misérables_ in this chapter, only some song lyrics from the first 20 mins.**

* * *

 _Octavian watched, terrified, from the shadows. The boy with black hair was kneeling next to the small pool of silver. He was just sitting there, crying. Salty drops of liquid sadness fell from his dark eyes like waterfalls, and the boy was clenching his fists, his long, thin fingers trembling with some emotion that Octavian couldn't quite discern._

 _The boy stood up suddenly, trying in vain to block the steady stream of tears flowing down his pale face. And then, he stumbled into the shadows that blanketed all the corners of every building. The moment the boy shadow-traveled to wherever his destination was, Octavian ran out of the shadows and combed his pale hands through the black sand frantically. It was coarse, more like tiny grains of glass than sand._

 _The blond was close to tears in his panic. The General was going to be so furious with him! The last time he messed up this badly... Octavian didn't want to finish that thought. Should he hide? No, that would only make the General angrier. He spread his pale yellow wings and soared away from the scene of disaster. Better to face the problem head-on._

 _..._

 _"What did you do, again?" The General stared at him with icy green eyes, knowing perfectly well what Octavian had done wrong, but wanting to humiliate him further by having it fall from his lips again._

 _"I-I got your only_ mavrigata _killed due to my own cowardice, Madame." Octavian trembled under her glare, like a beam of electricity being fired from her pupils. She opened her ruby-red lips, most likely about to scream at him for his stupidity, but then closed them again. Suddenly, a malevolent curiosity sparked in her eyes._

 _"You are only part angel, is that correct?" She smirked, making Octavian even more terrified._

 _"My-my father is a grandson of Apollo." He paused, pursing his lips. He fought to keep the tears from leaking out of his pale blue eyes. "My mother was a m-mortal."_

 _The General pondered this for a moment, then her fingers, with long nails painted scarlet, crept towards her belt, where she pulled out a dagger. It's reflection showed her smiling like a cannibal about to have dinner. "I wonder if..." She trailed off._

 _"What-what are you doing, Madame?" Octavian stammered, backing up against the wall of the abandoned warehouse where they had decided to meet. She advanced without her heels making a sound against the stone floor, like a lion about to pounce on a gazelle._

 _The General held her blade high in the air, and then brought it down - not killing Octavian. She sliced off his wing in one smooth, clean cut. It fell to the ground, instantly dissolving into silver. He gasped, agony like fire instantly spreading from the stub into the rest of his body. As hot tears streamed down his face, twisted in torment, the General leaned in, her lips almost touching his ear, "That was for failing to complete the job of assassinating Hades' two brats." She hissed._

 _She brought the silver-stained dagger, once again, up into the air. Ignoring his begs for her to stop, that he'd do anything, she slashed off his other wing. "And that," She purred menacingly, causing cold shivers to creep down his spine, "Was for getting one of my best soldiers killed." She left him there, weeping in agony and grief for his wings, and simply vanished into the night._

 _..._

 _Later that evening, Octavian stared into the dirty mirror of the motel he was staying in. He had his shirt off, and his back to the mirror, with his head craned around to see the stubs protruding from his shoulder blades, and trying to ignore the faded white scars that littered his back from his childhood._

 _That very same evening, Octavian vowed that he would take revenge, be it from the Hades child, or from the General herself._

* * *

A classic super-villain backstory. Abuse, tragedy, revenge, the like. And yet, it is impossible not to feel sympathy for this boy. He is only eighteen, practically still a child. And there is much more abuse, tragedy, and revenge that has gone on in Octavian's life than I can reveal right now.

All in good time, my friend.

In the meantime, we will, once again, visit the 'Hades child' that Octavian swore revenge upon.

* * *

Nico sat on the cream-colored windowsill of Jack Parker's home, observing the man sitting on the floor in front of the couch that was made for sitting on. His wife sat, legs crossed, beside him. She had her hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner. The man's little sister had passed away from cancer recently, and he was sitting, knees to his chest, watching her favorite movie on the television. _Les Misérables_.

A girl sang with incredible passion, tears streaking her cheeks.

 _But the tigers come at night_

 _With their voices soft as thunder  
_  
 _As they tear your hope apart  
_  
 _As they turn your dream to shame_

Nico knew that he was being stupid for relating to this song. The girl was going through something much different than him, but he couldn't stop thinking about his own nightmares. As Nico witnessed the 27 year-old Mr. Parker forgetting about his grief and instead remembering the way that his sister would always beg him to watch this part with her, Nico felt something he hadn't felt in a while... hesitation to make a mortal feel despair. _I'll come back to him later._ And so, Nico strode into the shadows and disappeared, trying to see if he could get his hands on Bianca's favorite movie, and completely ignoring the lyrics on playing from the television.

 _He slept a summer by my side_

 _He filled my days with endless wonder  
_  
 _He took my childhood in his stride  
_  
 _But, he was gone when autumn came_

* * *

Will walked into the small hospital room to find the man he was looking for. An old man, tanned, with grey hair and wrinkles so deep they looked as if they had been carved into his face. All the angels of Healing knew that there was nothing that could be done for this man, but his family had been sending out so many prayers that it was giving Apollo a headache, so he sent Will out to see if there was anything that could be done. There clearly wasn't.

The old man had beads of sweat on his forehead and his breath was wheezing. He was clearly fighting a losing battle, and prolonging it would just be cruel. Will wondered if there was a way to ease his pain without dragging out the man's clearly imminent death.

Just then, another angel stepped out of the shadows, almost giving Will a heart attack. The boy-angel had feathery hair, black as midnight, and very dark eyes, about the darkest shade of brown that there was. He was a little bit too pale and skinny to be healthy, and he had pale indigo rings under his eyes.

The angel nodded at Will in greeting, then spread his wings, revealing glossy black feathers. His ebony wings blocked out the light in a way that they shouldn't have been able to, and cast a huge shadow over the man's family, who had all been sitting dutifully by his bedside, eyes closed in prayer. They began weeping quietly, finally realizing that there was nothing that could be done.

Will got hit by the tiniest little corner of the, clearly, angel of Despair's shadow, and felt a small twinge of sadness at not being able to do more to help the man. he shook this off, telling himself that it wasn't his fault.

Suddenly, another angel walked through the door, dragging her feet. She made the angel of Despair look like the healthiest living being on the planet by comparison. She was so, so horrifyingly malnourished that she was basically just a skeleton with skin layered on top. Her bones stuck out so sharply that it looked like she could impale someone with them.

Her eyes were far too bloodshot, and the bags under them were so dark that they were practically black. Her lips were chapped, and she was so pale that she was almost tinged blue. Her dishwater blonde hair was scraped back into a greasy bun, with strands falling out that she clearly didn't have the will or the energy to put back. She was wearing a simple black dress that would have made it look like she was in mourning, but for the fact that she was barefoot, her toes actually turning blue with cold. Her wings were dull grey, hanging limply from her shoulder blades. Some feathers were falling out, fluttering slowly to the ground.

Will and many others imagined a 'fallen angel' as an angel who was dramatically falling from the sky, their wings broken and an expression of angst on their face. And yet, when Will saw this angel standing in front of him, she was none of these things. She stood there, two feet on the ground, her wings drooping, an expression of nothing but hopelessness on her face. Will had seen dead bodies that were less lifeless.

And yet, she was clearly falling, fast. But there was no one there to catch her.

Snapping out of his dark thoughts, Will's blue eyes followed the girl as she shuffled from the doorway, until she was next to the old man's bed. She placed a hand on his forehead, and Will saw that her nails had been bitten until they were shorter than they should have been, the skin around them frayed.

The man stopped wheezing. He let out one final soft sigh, his muscles relaxing. Will then realized what the girl-angel was. An angel of Death.

The small breath that had been the man's last goodbye to the world seemed to be glowing a faint blue color. The angel of Death reached out and caught it, staring at it sitting in her palm for a moment, before closing her fingers around it and stumbling over to the window. She nodded at the angel of Despair and was about to leave, but then Will spoke up. "Wait!"

She and the angel of Death stared at him, probably wondering what the heck he was doing. "You need to eat more." The angel of Death raised her blonde eyebrows, looking surprised. "And get more sleep."

She turned to the window, placing her free hand on it. Will thought that she was going to ignore him, until she turned her head back and replied, in a voice that clearly hadn't been used in a long time. "Thank you." She croaked, then cleared her throat, and turned back to the window. "It's been a long time since anyone's said that to me." She then quickly climbed through the window and jumped out into the night.

The angel of Despair stared at him with an expression that Will couldn't quite discern. Was that... admiration?

The boy spread his wings again, but his shadow was even darker this time. Will made sure to stand where the light managed to get around the other angel's wings, but the, now deceased, man's family had no idea that the shadow was there in the first place. They all began sobbing, some on the verge of hysteria.

The angel of Despair then turned to Will. "What you said to Alex back there," He looked up from the ground and met Will's blue eyes with his own brown ones. "That was... nice of you." He finished with a murmur.

Will stared at him incredulously. "Do other people not notice what she's doing to herself?" The brunette let out a soft sigh, then gazed up at him.

"In the Underworld, people don't care."

* * *

 **Phew, finally done! I apologize for not updating in about four months, but I've been busy with school and my other stories, yadda yadda yadda. I know that in the PJO books the General is not a female, but this isn't the PJO books, and I don't intend for the General from this story to have anything to do with the General from the PJO books. Hopefully, I haven't spoiled anything from _Les Misérables_ for you, but I think the only thing that I actually spoiled has absolutely nothing to do with the movie. Finally, I would like to clear something up for those who didn't understand it. An angel cannot live without his wings, but Octavian was not fully angel, so he survived. And he ages like a normal human, unlike angels, who age much slower. Anyways, review please! Ant thank you to the two reviewers who have reviewed already!**

 **~FALFAL**


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